Former Highway Patrol Trooper Charged with Biting Child in Face

A former highway patrol trooper in South Carolina was charged with biting a child in the face on Tuesday.

Jesse Phillip Brassell, a 23-year-old from Colleton County, was charged on Tuesday with cruelty to children after being accused of biting a child in the face, according to agents with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).

An arrest warrant states Brassell admitted to intentionally biting the 2-year-old, whose name and gender are not included in the warrant, causing a bite mark on the victim's right cheek. The incident happened on September 20 in Cottageville, South Carolina, court documents state.

Brassell was employed by the South Carolina Highway Patrol for approximately 27 months, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, which oversees highway patrol.

Newsweek has reached out to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division via email for comment.

A spokesperson with the department told Fox News he held the rank of Trooper First Class and was last assigned to Troop 6, Post B, which covers Beaufort, Berkeley, Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester and Jasper counties.

The Department of Public Safety placed Brassell under suspension without pay on September 22 following the incident. He officially resigned from the agency on December 15, according to the department.

According to Fox News, the Colleton County Sheriff's Office requested SLED investigate the matter, but a release from SLED does not specify why deputies called them in.

Although it is not known why Brassell bit the child, the case will be investigated by the Public Integrity Unit of the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office, a SLED press release states. The unit is a collaboration between the 1st and 14th Circuit Solicitor's Offices.

"It consists of senior-level attorneys and investigators, who work with law enforcement agencies to review officer-involved shootings, alleged public corruption, and other use of force cases within their circuits," SLED spokesperson Renée Wunderlich said in a press release.

Brassell was charged under South Carolina's cruelty to children statute. Under the law, it is a misdemeanor for a parent, guardian or anyone who has "charge or custody" of a child to inflict "unnecessary pain or suffering" or to deprive the child of "necessary sustenance or shelter."

Brassell was booked into the Colleton County Detention Center.

This is not the first time bite marks on a child have resulted in an investigation.

In 2019, the Arizona Department of Health Services said an investigation was underway after a child was allegedly bitten more than 25 times while in a Tucson daycare facility.

Police told local media the incident happened at Creative Beginnings Preschool in late February 2019. The case was brought to light after images of the child's injuries were posted to social media by her mother, Alice Bryant, who said it had now been "closed with no results."

But state officials told KOLD News 13: "The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) is investigating the incident at Creative Beginnings Daycare and working with law enforcement.

On Facebook, the images of the baby girl show a multitude of apparent bite marks covering the child's back and shoulders. In some, blotches appear to contain small teeth marks. Bryant wrote that the childcare operators did not inform her of the issue when the child was picked up.

The woman's 1-year-old daughter had allegedly received more than two dozen bite marks from another child while in the care of the facility, which has said the claims are unsubstantiated. The Tucson Police Department confirmed that no charges had been filed and no arrests made.